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Still the one: Taurasi making impact everywhere she goes BY ROGER CLEAVELANDRepublican-American

Phoenix Mercury's Diana Taurasi, right, makes a drive for the basket against Connecticut Sun's Erin Phillips in the first half of the WNBA basketball game in Uncasville, Conn., Saturday, July 8, 2006. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

UNCASVILLE — The WNBA and ESPN began touting the future of women's basketball last year with their "Three to See" multimedia campaign that highlighted the talents of Brittney Griner, Elena Della Donne and Skylar Diggins.

Diggins has yet to live up to the hype, Della Donne has generated enough buzz to lead the WNBA in votes for the All-Star game and Griner has been injured. In fact, while Griner and Della Donne were voted in as All-Stars, neither will play in today's 3:30 p.m. All-Star game at Mohegan Sun Arena because of injuries.

Never fear, Diana's still here.

"Three to see? Nah, I would be the one to see," deadpanned Diana Taurasi on Friday before laughing.

Nearly a decade after she graduated from UConn the best player ever in women's college basketball, Taurasi has evolved into the best player in women's basketball, period. The 31-year-old, who has led the WNBA in scoring five of the last seven years, goes into the All-Star break leading the league once again with a 22.4-ppg. average.

After sitting out most of last season with a strained hip flexor muscle, she's returned a better, more polished player. She's also second in the league in assists at 5.6 per game, and she's shooting a career best 47.2 percent from the field.

"I think I am getting better, and I think you have to," Taurasi said. "Maybe the transition of going back to point and (Phoenix coach Corey Gaines) giving me the freedom to have the ball a little bit more has helped the process. For the past six, seven years, I was playing more on the wing and there were times when I wasn't as involved."

Regardless of where she plays, Taurasi makes an impact. She has won three straight national championships at UConn, five EuroLeague championships, two WNBA titles and three Olympic gold medals.

"Diana has unwavering confidence and an incredible ability to win," said UConn icon and current WNBA broadcaster Rebecca Lobo. "In a lot of ways, as good as she is, she always seems to put team first. She knows basketball because her basketball IQ is really, really high. She brings out the best in teammates, and she can keep teammates loose because of her personality."

Taurasi's confident, passionate personality serves as the foundation for all her success. It also gets her in trouble: She was fined and suspended for a game recently for picking up her seventh technical foul.

"I'm in the red this year," Taurasi said. "I don't think I've gotten paid. They have probably made money off of me this year. But I have to play like that because that is the only way I know how to play. I've tried to do the dog-in-submission-type behavior, and that doesn't work for me."

Lobo said that Taurasi is great for women's basketball, because she is the sport's version of Charles Barkley, someone who will speak her mind, give honest, colorful answers and then go on the court and play at such a high level that people have to take notice.

"I don't necessarily want my kids getting as many technicals as she gets," Lobo said. "but you would definitely want your child watching the passion she plays with, the joy she plays with, the skill she has and how hard she works."

She said she wants her legacy to be that every time she went onto the court she gave everything she had. Whatever else follows, she'll be content with.

She would definitely like to win another WNBA championship with Phoenix, not because she needs anything else on her own resume but because she wants to help her new teammate, Griner, beef up hers.

"With Brittney coming, it has re-energized us, me personally and us as a franchise," Taurasi said. "You see the future with her, and it is really bright. I don't know how many more I have to play, but I want to make sure I am at the level where I can help her win a championship. When she is on the court healthy, she has proven she is a force."

Taurasi said she definitely has another Olympics in her, too, but she makes no promises about her role in them.

"Oh yeah, I am going to Rio," Taurasi said. "Are you kidding me? I am going to the Copacabana. I'm dancing. I'm taking my bikini, and I'm going. If I am playing, I don't know, but I will be there."

As for the WNBA promoting its rookies so aggressively, Taurasi embraces it as being great for the future of her sport, secure in the knowledge she has already proven herself.

"I don't have that underlying feeling when I take to the court that I am going to prove something to these kids," Taurasi said. "That all kind of goes away. The only proof you have is what you do on the court. All the talk, all the Twitter and all that stuff doesn't mean anything. The proof on the court outlasts everything else."

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Adrienne Tauaese wrote on Jul 28, 2013 9:27 AM:

" Amazing Interview. Well Said TAURASI. You are an Amazing Role Model to every Women out there and a Phenominal Woman. Thank You Diana TAURASI. Love Your Number 1 Fan... Adrienne Tauaese "

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